Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought offers a broad treatment of the personalities, ship movements, and technological development surrounding prewar diplomacy. It is a divisive book with real strengths and weaknesses. Clive Ponting's Thirteen Days: Diplomacy and Disaster corrects problems in Massie's account, while Dreadnought supplies context that Ponting lacks. Reading them together turns disagreement between books into a method for building a stronger interpretation.
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Pairing Dreadnought with Thirteen Days
Two books are recommended together to study naval diplomacy, technological change, and the pre-1914 arms race with complementary strengths.